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Refugee Status.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 December 2004

Wednesday, 8 December 2004

Questions (64)

Joe Sherlock

Question:

63 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to statements made by the Master of the High Court that those making decisions regarding refugees often fail to make a proper fact based assessment of credibility; if he intends to initiate a review of procedures in view of these comments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32517/04]

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Written answers

As the Deputy will be aware, applications for refugee status in the State are determined by an independent investigative process comprising the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Accordingly, it would be inappropriate to comment in any detail on the statement referred to by the Deputy.

However, for the information of the Deputy, all applications for refugee status are processed in accordance with the statutory framework set out in the Refugee Act 1996, as most recently amended by the Immigration Act 2003. The refugee determination agencies in processing asylum claims also have regard to the UNHCR Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for determining Refugee Status. Consideration of an applicant's credibility is dealt with in some detail in both the UNHCR handbook and in section 11B of the 1996 Act. This would also be a key focus of training in the refugee determination agencies which is provided by a number of sources, including the UNHCR, and is kept under constant review.

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